Sketch of Fruit-Growing in Pacific Northwest. 187 



apples ; the Golden Drop. Tennant and Pacilic prunes ; the Walla Walla and Win- 

 ter Bartlett pear, and the Early Charlotte peach. 



IV. THK MARKETS FOR NdliTHWIOSTEKN FRUIT. 



The cities of Portland, Seattle, Tacoma. Spokane, Vancouver, and Victoria 

 are all excellent and growing markets, but they cannot consume a fiftieth part of 

 the fruit raised in the Northwest. At the rate homeseekers are now pouring into 

 the Northwest, this per cent will be materially increased within the next few 

 years. The chief markets for Noi-thwestern fruit at present are the mining- 

 camps of Washington. Oregon. British Columbia. Montana, and the cities of the 

 Dakotas and Minnesota. It is well known that mining camps are much better 

 markets for fruits and vegetables, in proportion to the population, than manufac- 

 turing towns. Butte. Montana, is the center of an extensive mining district, and 

 is one of th largest distributing centers for northwestern fruit ; but Montana now 

 has a million fruit trees coming into bearing, and these will soon claim a share of 

 _this trade. 



The local towns and mining camps of the Northwest will always be import- 

 ant markets for northwestern fruit, but I am convinced that the great opportunity 

 of northwestern fruitgrowers is in developing a market in Alaska and the Orient. 

 The Northwest occupies a strategic position with reference to Oriental trade. 

 Through the wonderful inland harbor of Puget Sound will pour most of the vast 

 volume of trade which is bound to pass between the T'nited States ana .Japan. 

 China, the Philippines and other Asiatic countries. These peoples are just begin- 

 ning to feel the pulse of Amerfcan industrial activtiy. Northwestern fruit- 

 growers have been asking themselves, "If there are markets in the Orient for 

 American machinery and American manufactures, why not for American fruit V" 

 They have found that good markets for American fruit do already exist in the 

 Orient, and that these markets can be immeasurably developed and broadened. 

 That there has long been a waiting market in the Orient for the fresh and pre- 

 served fruits of other countries is shown by the fact that in 1899 the exportations 

 of fruit from various sources, chiefly American, to Oriental markets were valued at 

 about .ttTOO.flOO. There is a steadily increasing demand among the natives of 

 Oriental countries for canned, dried and preserved fruits. The white population 

 of tjjese countries depend upon the imported fruits almost entirely to supply their 

 tables. The tinned fruits found in the Orient, come mostly from America, but the 

 preserved fruits come mostly from Europe. All dried fruits shipped to the Orient 

 should be put up in tins or glass bottles, else they will mildew. Within the past 

 few years a good market for northwestern apples has been opened up in Siberia. 

 Each year many apples are shipped from the Northwest to Australia, the Winesap 

 being a special favorite for this trade. Several thousand boxes of apples, princi- 

 pally Ben Davis, are annually shipped to China, and invariably reach there in good 

 condition Here are markets which must be developed, especially for apples, prunes 

 and dried, preserved and canned fruits. There is every reason for believing that 

 the next quarter century will witness the building up of a large Oriental trade in 

 American fruits and fruit products. Undoubtedly a large proportion of this fruit 

 will come from the Northwest. 



In 1900. 150,000 boxes of Pacific Coast apples were exported to Europe via 

 New York. Northwestern fruit marketed in the East and in Europe has had to 

 contend with what most fruitgrowers believe to be excessive freight rates. The 

 transportation problem Is uppermost at all horticultui-al meetings in the North- 

 west. When the freight rates are 62 per cent of the selling price, as has been the 

 case with fresh prunes shipped from the inland valleys to Eastern markets, north- 

 western fruitgrowers believe they are justified in compl.nining. In 1900 the freight 

 tariff on carload lots of apples from Pacific ocean terminals and intermediate 

 points to Missouri and Mississippi Uiver points, and to the Atlantic seaboard 

 cities, was .$1 per 100 pounds for apples and prunes -in boxes. The railroad 

 men explain this one way or another, but most unbiased observers agree that 

 as a rule the fright rates on northwestern fruits are exorbitant. 



